Halo 2: Hope For Mankind
by dEm0niC
Summary: This story tells what happens right after the destruction of Halo.
1. Chapter 1: After the Destruction of Halo

Chapter 1: After the Destruction of Halo  
  
-For all those who have not read The Fall of Reach, John-117 is Master Chief. Sorry for any confusion.  
  
Master Chief sat down resting. He closed his eyes, but he still didn't feel safe. Master Chief looked out the window, but all he saw was darkness. Nothing was near him, so he realized that after all those long days of battling, he should be safe.   
But he was wrong.  
"I detected multiple Covenant ships; possibly searching for any survivors of the destruction of Halo," said Cortana.   
"Can we avoid them?" asked Master Chief.  
"I doubt it, the Covenant ships are too quick, they will reach us before we can do anything. The only possible solution is to turn off all our systems and pray that they won't find us," remarked Cortana.  
John-117 stood up and went to the control panel. He turned off all the systems and grabbed his trusty assault rifle. He knew it wouldn't help, but it was an instinct he had, and it also comforted him when he was afraid. Not that he would admit that, though.  
The Covenant ships became closer and closer to the ship. Then one of the ships fired a blue ball of plasma at the spacecraft. Luckily, it just barely missed the vessel. Then another ship fired, and this time it looked like it was going to hit them. The huge orb of plasma became nearer and nearer. Again, they missed the ship. Two other ships looked like they were also going to fire, but they stopped. Now all the ship started to head toward their spacecraft even faster than before.  
"What are they doing?" whispered Master Chief.  
"They seem to want to capture us, but why do they want to do that?" questioned Cortana.  
Then he knew. The Covenant wanted Cortana, so they could find Earth's coordinates. If the Covenant succeeded that, then it would be the end of Earth.   
"They want you, Cortana," Master Chief said.  
"Me? But why would they… Oh, to find earth's location. Then destroy me before its too late!" exclaimed Cortana.  
"Don't worry, the Covenant don't know how to use you," remarked John-117.  
The Covenant spaceships were now even closer. The first one that reached their ship sent out a small transport ship. Master Chief heard a loud clank and heard a couple grunts squealing. His hands gripped on his assault rifle, and he came closer to where he heard the clanking noise. Then he saw three grunts and he landed 20 rounds into two of them, and he slammed the other one to the ground, killing him instantly. The other two fell onto the ground, dead.   
Master Chief crouched down and reloaded his gun. Two elites came into his view, one blue elite and one red elite. He pulled out his pistol and carefully aimed straight at the blue elite's head. Master Chief pulled the trigger three times, and the blue elite fell down, dead. The red elite screamed and called for the rest of the Covenant to come. John-117 threw two of the plasma grenades he picked up from the blue elite and threw them at the door. Right at that instant, ten elites came out from the door. The two grenades exploded and killed all of them.  
"There is no more Covenant here," said Cortana.  
"Any ideas for what to do?" asked Master Chief  
"Well, if we stay here forever, the Covenant will know you eliminated all the forces," remarked Cortana, "but if we use their transport and head toward their ship, they will think they have captured us. Then we board their ship and possibly find out where their home world is. We can then use the ship for ourselves. Do you like the idea?"  
"Lets do it," Master Chief said as he walked into the Covenant transport. 


	2. Chapter 2: The Covenant Cruiser

Chapter 2: The Covenant Cruiser  
  
The transport was not very big. It could fit about fifteen elites. The transport was the same color of all the other Covenant vehicles, purple. Master Chief closed the door of the transport, and he went to the driver's seat. He slowly sat down and placed Cortana onto the control panel.   
"You know how to drive this?" questioned Master Chief.  
"Let me have a minute to program it," said Cortana as she closed her eyes and absorbed all the data from the computer to her.  
After a short while, Cortana opened her eyes. The Covenant transport started to move toward the huge Covenant cruiser. Once the ship was close to the cruiser it started to slow down. The transport went into a large open space filled with other transports. The Covenant started to head toward the ship, not knowing who really was in it. Cortana landed the transport close to the Covenant that were coming.   
Master Chief picked Cortana and his assault rifle up and crouched by the door. He heard the Covenant talking louder and louder as they came closer. His motion sensor detected eight moving Covenant. One of the Covenant came toward to transport door and opened it. John-117 stuck a plasma grenade on the elite, and the elite jumped out of the transport screaming.   
After he heard the explosion, he rushed out of the transport, and he saw five elites, but only three of them were equipped with guns. There were also two fully equipped jackals. The jackals were close by so he slammed one down. The other one started to flee, but Master Chief shot him in the back. The three elites started to shoot their plasma rifles, but John-117 hid behind the transport. He pulled out his pistol and zoomed in on one of the elites. Master Chief quickly shot the elite's plasma grenade and it exploded, killing all five of the elites.  
"Nice shot," commented Cortana.  
"Thanks, so what do we do now?" he replied.  
"My readings show that the ship's control panel is about 250 meters that way," said Cortana as she put a nav point on Master Chief's helmet, " but I recommend for you to scavenge some Covenant weapons on those other transports first, I have a feeling you'll need it" 


	3. Chapter 3: Captured

Chapter 3: Captured  
  
Master Chief walked toward one of the transports. In the transports he saw many covenant guns, including plasma pistols and plasma rifles, but what really caught his eye was an energy sword. He picked up the short stick and pressed a button. A bright yellow beam of plasma shot out. Then the turned the sword off and put it in one of the containers in his armor. Since his assault rifle was horrible at destroying an elite's shield, Master Chief dropped it and picked up a plasma pistol. As he was starting to leave the ship, he heard a loud rumbling noise from the ground. He didn't even need to listen to know what it was. Hunters. Master Chief pulled his pistol out, and reloaded it. During his battle on Halo, he learned that one shot with the pistol in the orange spot would kill a hunter instantly.   
"How many hunters are there?" asked John-117.  
"My readings say there are eight hunters. They must know that you are here on the ship, or else they wouldn't have sent so many soldiers," answered Cortana.  
Master Chief quietly walked out of the vessel's door. The hunters were still walking around, trying to find him. One of the hunters had his back toward John-117. He aimed right at the orange flesh of the hunter and pulled the trigger. The hunter gave a loud scream and dropped down, dead. Master Chief threw a frag grenade right beside the dead hunter. As the hunters came toward their dead ally, trying to find out what happened, the grenade exploded right beneath two of the hunters, killing them both.  
"Three down, five to go," Master Chief muttered under his breath.  
Three of the hunters started to walk toward where the Spartan was hiding. Master Chief sprinted right between two of the hunters. The hunters, very surprised, shot their fuel rod cannons. John-117 dodged both of the fuel rod blasts as they streaked by him. The two fuel rod blasts went past each other, and then they both went right into the two hunters, burning them to pieces. As the other hunter turned around to warn his allies, the Spartan shot the hunter in the orange spot in its back. The two remaining hunters fled from the batter, frightened.   
"You handled that better than I thought you would. You didn't even get scratched," said Cortana.  
"Thanks, but it's no time for chit-chat. It will just be a matter of time before the hunters inform the other covenant. We better be leaving," remarked John-117.  
Master Chief armed his plasma pistol as he went through one of the doors. He saw four sleeping grunts and an elite walking back and forth, keeping guard. He killed all four of the grunts by smashing them with his plasma pistol. The elite did not notice this, for he was still walking back and forth. The Spartan crouched by the corner, and pulled his energy sword out. He pushed the button and a beam of plasma came out. John-117 jumped at the elite and slashed his head off. Purple blood dripped on the floor as the head fell onto the ground. Master Chief started to walk away. Little did he know, that five camouflaged elites were right behind him. The five elites came and slammed him onto the ground. The Spartan was knocked out, unconscious.  
"What should we do with him?" questioned one of the elites.  
"Let's not kill him, we can get the A.I. out of him," remark another elite.  
"We don't even know how to pull the A.I. out, but I guess we could try to find out," said the first elite.  
"No!!! Wake up Chief! Master Chief!" screamed Cortana, as they grabbed Master Chief and started to head toward the jail. 


	4. Chapter 4: The Prison

----------------------------------------------------  
Chapter 4: The Prison  
----------------------------------------------------  
  
"The Master Chief! Are you awake?" asked Cortana.  
"My back… The pain…" grunted the Spartan.  
The Master Chief opened his eyes and found that he was in a small room. It was not like the prison that he went to when he was rescuing Keyes the first time. The room was only about 4 meters by 4 meters. Its walls were the color that was on all Covenant spaceships, bright pink and purple.  
"Where are we?" questioned John-117.  
"We are in some sort of jail. They have captured us and put us here," replied Cortana.  
"Is there anything…"said The Master Chief.  
"Shhh… Listen," interrupted the A.I, "I hear footsteps."  
"So, do we kill the cyborg?" asked an elite.  
"No, we our orders were to grab the A.I. and do no harm to the cyborg," replied the second elite.  
"Why?" questioned the first elite.  
"I heard the scientists want to reprogram the A.I. and make it control the human," answered the other Covenant.  
The door of the jail room slid open and two fully equipped elites came in the jail. Before The Master Chief could do anything, the first elite shot the Spartan with some kind of stunning weapon that paralyzed John-117. The second Covenant took Cortana out of the cyborg and laughed. The two elites went out of the room, unharmed.   
After a few minutes, John-117 could move again. The Spartan heard footsteps and looked at his motion detector. One red dot was moving closer and closer to the prison. The Master Chief hid by a corner, waiting for the Covenant. As the door slid open, an elite came into view. As the Covenant soldier stepped in, John-117 punched him on the back of his neck with both of his fists. The elite fell down, dead, and the Spartan picked up a plasma rifle and two plasma grenades the Covenant warrior dropped.  
The Master Chief quietly went out of the jail. Now he had to focus on finding Cortana. Without the A.I., his reflexes were slowed. But luckily, his reflexes and agility were both still incredible. The Spartan looked around, searching for any enemies. His motion detector identified no enemies, but he still had to be careful. There might be some covenant that were standing still.   
After walking for a few minutes, the Master Chief came upon a sleeping grunt. He took the grunt's mask off for an easy, silent kill. As he was picking up the fuel rod cannon he was wielding, a plasma bolt streaked by his face. He quickly picked the weapon up and turned around. He saw nothing, but then he realized that the Covenant that shot him must have been camouflaged. John-117 started randomly firing his plasma rifle, but none hit the elite. The Covenant's camouflage must of started to run out, because he was getting easier and easier to see. The Master Chief threw his plasma grenade as accurately as he could, and it stuck right onto his feet. The elite screamed as the plasma grenade blew him up. Blue blood splattered everywhere and the Covenant's body parts flew right past the Spartan.  
"Ouch," said John-117, "Lucky that wasn't me!" 


End file.
